Liberty State Park is the largest
urban park in New Jersey. Opened on Flag Day, June 14, 1976, it has more than twelve hundred acres that includes
approximately three hundred acres of developed space for active and passive
recreation.

The western edge of Liberty State Park was once the waterfront home of
the Lenape and later Dutch settlers of New Netherland, who started a ferry
service to Manhattan in 1661. The northern edge of the park follows the
line of the old Morris
Canal whose barges carried Pennsylvania coal to the expanding industrial
and urban markets surrounding New York Bay in the early nineteenth century.
The eastern edge of the park was filled in by the railroads starting in
the mid-nineteenth century as the tidal flats along the Jersey City waterfront
were transformed into vast expanses of railroad yards, and passenger and
cargo transportation facilities.

Located at the north end of the park, the Central
Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) operated the terminal complex from
1849 to 1967. The present terminal was completed in 1889 and received
the stream of immigrants entering America from Ellis Island off the Jersey
City coastline. The new arrivals proven "clearly and beyond a doubt entitled
to land" could board barges for the mainland, which for more than fifty
percent, was the CRRNJ terminal in Jersey City. Thousands of workers and
travelers also arrived daily at the terminal to board the ferries or trains
for parts elsewhere. The decline of the use of railway transportation
resulted in the bankruptcy of the Central Railroad in 1967 and the close
of the terminal. The complex gradually fell into disrepair and was strewn
with debris.

Some local residents, believing the site had the potential to be a public
natural resource, sought support from the state and federal governments
to transform the facility into a waterfront park. In 1958, community activist
and former City Councilman Morris Pesin wanted to increase public awareness
of the remarkably close proximity of Liberty Island to Jersey City. Accompanied
by a reporter from the Jersey Journal, Pesin canoed between the two locations,
a journey of only eight minutes. Other early advocates for the creation
and preservation of the park were Audrey Zapp and Ted Conrad. With growing
community support, these activists succeeded in obtaining Green Acres
Bond Funds, and Land and Water Conservation funds. Jersey City donated
156 acres for the initiation of the park. The Department of Environmental
Protection and the US Army Corps of Engineers joined to clear the harbor
for the park. A restoration of the terminal and present day waterfront
property was undertaken under the supervision of the National Park Service
in 1976, and the firm of Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham drew up the
architectural plans for the park.

As one enters the park on Morris Pesin Drive, there is a presentation
of the flags of the fifty states by their admission to the union. Flag
Plaza in front of the Park Administration Building and Visitors' Center
has thirteen American flags for each of the original states of the union;
to the right are flags that were flown during the Revolutionary War era.
Nearby at the southern end of the park there is a plaque commemorating
the Black
Tom explosion of 1916. An imposing twenty-foot statue commemorating
the Holocaust stands before the flag plaza in the South Overlook Field.
It was designed by sculptor Nathan Rappaport and is named Liberation
Monument. The statue depicts a World War II concentration camp survivor
being carried to freedom by an unarmed American soldier.

The Environmental Educational Center on Freedom Way, designed by Princeton
architect and artist Michael Graves, was opened in 1982. The setting is
the park's thirty-six acre natural area, a tidal marsh of the Hudson River
estuary. Its location provides a prominent view of the State of Liberty,
Ellis Island and the southern end of Manhattan Island. The post modern-style
center is a two-story stucco-glazed timber building; one approaches the
center through a colonnaded entrance that joins two pavilions. The interior
features an auditorium and exhibit space for educational programs about
the environment. The design effectively integrates the purpose of the
interior of the pavilions with the unique external landscape. According
to New Jersey journalist Gordon Bishop, the center "resembles a Roman
cathedral with a natural beauty" and "was inspired by the Madonna
de Villa in Italy" (Bishop 13).

In 1986 a two-mile promenade along the Hudson River, known as Liberty
Walk, was opened. It extends from the Statue of Liberty Overlook to the
CRRNJ Terminal and offers a panoramic view of New York harbor. From it
one observes the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty
and Verrazanno Narrows Bridge. The promenade is a segment of the eighteen-mile
Hudson River Walkway.

Liberty Science Center on Phillip Drive and Communipaw Avenue was opened
in 1993. The three-story not-for-profit educational facility with a 170-foot
tower offers permanent and rotating science exhibits. It features multimedia
and interactive exhibits to promote science education, featuring the environment,
health and innovation and covering 60,000 square feet of space. There
is also a 180-degree Kodak Omni Theater to show feature films designed
for the IMAX dome screen. The Center closed in 2005 for a renovation and
expansion of 125,000 square feet of new floor space; it reopened in 2007
with a Center for Science Learning and Teaching.

La Vela di Colombo, or "The Sail of Columbus," Monument at
North Cove is at the center of the circular Christopher Columbus Plaza.
Designed by Italian sculptor Gino Gianetti, the two-story sail-shaped
bronze monument commemorates the 500th anniversary of the westward journey
of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492. The National Italian-American
Foundation and the Christopher Columbus Citizens Foundation in 1998 dedicated
the sculpture from the Italian government and the City of Genoa at the
park. The architect for the project was John Maiorano of the RBA Group.

The Columbus monument is located within the view of the Statue of Liberty
and Ellis Island--other symbols of immigration to the nation's foremost
gateway to America. "The Sail of Columbus" is atop four bronze
mooring posts mounted on a stone base in the shape of a ship. The waterfront
side of the sail depicts scenes of the explorer's travels. The inland
side includes a scene with Columbus at the helm of his ship.

On April 25, 2003, Arbor Day, the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection and volunteers planted trees at the "Grove of Remembrance,"
south of cobblestone Audrey Zapp Drive. The 150 trees that were planted
are the beginning of a memorial of 697 mature trees to each of the New
Jersey residents who lost their lives during the September 11, 2001, tragedy
at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The trees are a variety of species, such as
birch and dogwood, which were selected for their environment. Two walkways
allow visitors to travel the 10.8 acres in the park. At the center is
a Memorial Circle of weeping cherry trees and sitting benches for reflection
by visitors.

Empty Sky monument at Liberty State Park
Photo: C. Karnoutsos, 2014

At the waterfront of the park, opposite Ground Zero, is the Empty Sky Monument. It was added to the park and dedicated on September 10, 2011, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack and honors the 749 New Jersey residents and those associated with New Jersey who died at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center site. Architect Frederic Schwartz with Jessica Jamroz designed the $12 million monument sponsored by the Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey, State of New Jersey and New Jersey Building Authority. The names of the deceased are etched in random order into the two parallel 30-foot high panels of brushed reflective stainless steel that are illuminated from the base of the walkway. The memorial's outside walls of exposed concrete span 208 feet,10 inches and replicate the width of the fallen towers. It is on a 10-foot grassy mound surrounded by weeping cherry trees. A steel remnant from the towers was also placed at the memorial site.

Frederic Schwartz also designed the 9/11 memorial for Westchester County at the Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. It is named The Rising for the commemorative song produced by New Jersey's Bruce Springsteen.

Liberty State Park today is noted for its free open space, cultural events
sponsored by state and local government funding, wildlife refuge, and
outdoor recreation. Its undeveloped acres have been reclaimed to allow
for wetlands and wildlife habitation. The interior of the part includes
250 acres that were once used by the railroads and are now undergoing
ecological restoration. For example, the area along a section of Freedom
Way has become the site of freshwater wetlands. The Division of Parks
and Forestry supervises the refuge. Other recreational features include
picnic areas, playgrounds, boat launch, one hundred acre Green Park, and
Liberty Landing Marina (1998). Ferry service from the CRRNJ terminal in
the park takes visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.